Sandforce-based SSDs are being released onto the market from literally every company but according to OCZ, their new Vertex 2 drives are a cut above the rest. Decked out with a custom firmware that supposedly unlocks additional performance, there are high expectations for the newest addition to the Vertex family....

Will the average user (or slightly above average user - i.e. photoshop/premiere) notice a difference between the non-sandforce controller SSD's and the current gen SSD's with it?

read speeds are really close for most SSD currently on the market, but the write speeds are a huge difference. But if there's a regular HDD for storage of files, and SSD for the OS and programs, is there a noticable difference?

If you are a 'regular enthusiast' who spends a lot of money (but somewhat wisely), you probably have an SSD of some type already. This SSD might not be for you, as the real-world performance gains over other SSDs don't warrant the price tag. If you are a budget-minded enthusiast, then this is still out of your league.

Folks like myself with a Gen.1 Vertex, or a Gen.2 Intel should not be too interested in this drive. If you are a synthetic benchmark junkie then maybe. I'll wait to see what the new Sata spec drives will do for real-world performance, and I suggest others do the same.

Good thing is that maybe the prices of OCZ 120GB and Intel 160GB drives will come down as these Sandforce drives get popular.

If you are a 'regular enthusiast' who spends a lot of money (but somewhat wisely), you probably have an SSD of some type already. This SSD might not be for you, as the real-world performance gains over other SSDs don't warrant the price tag. If you are a budget-minded enthusiast, then this is still out of your league.

Folks like myself with a Gen.1 Vertex, or a Gen.2 Intel should not be too interested in this drive. If you are a synthetic benchmark junkie then maybe. I'll wait to see what the new Sata spec drives will do for real-world performance, and I suggest others do the same.

Good thing is that maybe the prices of OCZ 120GB and Intel 160GB drives will come down as these Sandforce drives get popular.

Exactly what I was thinking, seeing some decent deals on 60GB OCZ's.. and other brands with non-sandforce controllers.

I count myself as an enthusiast and I will freely admit that currently SSDs don't appeal to me in the least. This is simply because I still count them as beta hardware that are not yet mature enough to warrant installation into my primary system. I'll buy into the fad when I see these as an actual replacement for my primary drive instead of overpriced boot drives.